Vehicular door latch

ABSTRACT

Two pawls are pivoted next to each other and biased away from each other on the edge of a vehicle door while a channel member capable of receiving these pawls is formed on the doorpost. The pawls have outwardly directed teeth and the sides of the channel each have a mating tooth formation. The channel partially encloses the pawls which are pivoted on a block on the door edge. A mechanism is provided to move these pawls toward and away from each other to operate the latch and to lock the latter.

States Patent Inventor Johann Grass Heiligenhaus, Germany 807,519

Mar. 117, 1969 Sept. 7, 197 1 Firrna Arn. Kicker-t Sohne llleiligenhaus, Germany Mar. 29, 1968 Germany Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee Priority VElllllClULAR DOOR LATCH 6 Cl 7 Drawing Figs.

neon 292/224,

292/25 lnLtCl E05c 3/34 Field oil seal-m 292/2441,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,436,447 11/1922 Karle 292/31 2,096,980 10/1937 Schjolin.. 292/25 2,173,671 9/1939 Webber 292/25 Primary Examiner-Emest R. Purser An0rneyl(arl F. Ross ABSTRACT: Two pawls are pivoted next to each other and biased away from each other on the edge of a vehicle door while a channel member capable of receiving these pawls is formed on the doorpost. The pawls have outwardly directed teeth and the sides of the channel each have a mating tooth formation. The channel partially encloses the pawls which are pivoted on a block on the door edge. A mechanism is provided to move these pawls toward and away from each other to operate the latch and to lock the latter.

PATENTED SEP 7:971

SHEET 2 UP 3 I NVE NTO R z/OHANA/ GRASS 93, g, 7% ATTORNEY PATENT-ED SEP 7 I91:

SHEEY 0F 3 INVENTOR JOHA/V/V GRASS ATTORNEY VIEI'IICULAIR DQUR LATCH My invention relates to a latch and, more particularly, to a latch for a vehicular door.

Car and truck door latches usually comprise a rack fixed to the doorpost and a pinion rotatable on the edge of the door. The pinion is engageable with the rack and the door handle controls its rotation so that, on actuation of the handle. This pinion can rotate and the door can be opened. In conjunction with this the door edge or post is usually provided with a substantially conical pin which fits into a conical hole or bushing on the doorpost or edge, respectively. This bushing is usually mounted in a resilient rubber/metal sleeve so that when the door is pulled shut, the pin and hole resist movement of the door relative to the vehicle in all directions except the one direction of motion controlled by pinion and rack assembly.

Such an arrangement presents several disadvantages. Since the pin and hole are conical, if the door is not completely shut, the latching is far from perfect; clearances between the pin and the hole allow play between the rack and pinion allowing the latter to disengage.

The pin and hole also inevitably deform and create play between the rack and pinion under a variety of conditions. This is, of course, dangerous, leading to spontaneous opening of the car or truck door under stress when least desired.

It is therefore the principal object of my invention to provide a latch which is safe and secure, and which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages.

A more particular object is to provide a simple vehicular door latch that is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to operate.

I attain these and other objects, the pawls accordance with the invention, by doing away with the old pin-and-hole system and by relying wholly on the latch itself, with a unique construction, to buttress the closed or partly closed door in all directions. More specifically, I form the doorpost with a channel member having inwardly facing sides with inwardly directed notches. A pair of locking pawls are pivoted on the edge of the vehicular door and are received in the channel with teeth on the outer edges of the pawls fitting into the notches. The pawls are pivoted on relatively massive pins adjacent one another and have free ends biased away from each other by a torsion spiral spring. Pins on the free ends of the two pawls are engageable by ramps on a sliding body which is in turn actuated by a door-operating mechanism having a loclting means to prevent this body from sliding.

An advantageous feature of my invention is that the pawls are pivoted on a small plate that sets them off from the edge of the door while the channel just receives this plate with the teeth of the pawls extending therebeyond into the notches of the channel. Thus the teeth of the pawls prevent opening of the door, while any play in other directions. (i.e. transverse to the pawls or in the direction of their pivot axes) is prevented by the fact that the teeth of these pawls are enclosed in the channel.

The teeth on the pawls and the notches on the channel sides, according to a further feature of my invention, are formed as complementary sawteeth. These have relatively long and short flanks, the latter being substantially tangential to imaginary circles whose centers are the respective pawl pivots, in a closed position of the latch. Thus, the latching force is transmitted directly to these pivots which are, in accordance to yet another inventive feature, so close that should they be deformed, the inner edges of the pawls will bear upon each other and prevent release of latch.

Thus my invention has the advantages of safety, my latch offering great physical strength and sureness. Furthermore, due to the presence of more than a single notch on each channel side and pawl, the door is very securely held even when not perfectly shut in a prelatching position with the door partly closed, as well as in the main latching position for locking. The two-pawl feature makes for a latch that does not rislc becoming loose and dangerous with time.

The above and other objects, features, and advantages of my invention will be more readily apparent from the following description, reference being made to the drawing in which:

FIG. I is a side view showing the outside or exposed parts of my latch partially engaged, with the doorpost removed for clarity;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. I, showing the pawls fully ongaged in the channel member;

FIG. 3 is a section along line III-III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side view, partially in section, of the door-operating mechanism for operating the pawls of FIGS. 1-3;

FIG. 5 is a top view of the mechanism of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side view in the direction of arrow VI of FIG. 5;

and

FIG. 7 is section along to line VII-VII of FIG. 5.

As shown in FIGS. ll through 3, the latch is mounted on a plate I on the edge of a car or truck door. A second, smaller plate 2 is mounted on this plate l and mounting pins or shafts 3 and 3 for locking pawls 5 and 6 pass through this plate 2. The pivot pins 3 and 4t and the pawls 5 and 6 are firmly mounted together, and these pins are journaled in bushings 7 and 8 on the opposite side of the plate I from the pawls 5 and 6. Extending laterally from the free ends of the pawls 5 and 6 are pins 9 and 10 which pass through arcuate holes 11 and 12 in the plate 1 and cooperate with the lock-operating mechanism which will be described below.

The pawls 5 and 6 lie in substantially the same plane (parallel to the plane of the drawing), which is at right angles to the pivot axes defined by the pivot pins 3 and 4. The outwardly facing edges and the end portions of the pawls 5 and s are formed with sawteeth l3, l4 and I5, 16, respectively, which engage in respective sawtooth indentations or notches l7 and IE on respective strips 19 and 20 after channel. The shorter and steeper flanks of these teeth are: tangential to imaginary circles centered on the respective pivot pins 3 and 4.

The channel member 22, which encloses and holds the strips 19 and 20, overhangs their teeth 13-16 at 21. This over hanging portion 21 prevents the teeth 13-16 from disengaging the strips 19 and 20 in case the vehicle door is forced in the directions of arrows A in FIG. 3.

The dot-dash line positions show how an inside face 2 5 of the overhanging portion 21 laterally engages the pawls 5 and 6; if this engagement is strong enough to deform the pins 3 and 4 toward one another, these pawls 5 and 6 will be forced into mutual contact along their inside edges to a position wherein they are solidly blocked against each other. Thus, even the case of, for instance, a car accident, it will take a phenomenally strong force to pull the door open without operating the release mechanism.

From FIG. I it can be seen that only the teeth 14 and 16 are engaged in the sawtooth indentations formations I7 and 18 in a prelatching position. Here the door is slightly ajar, but still very firmly held. In FIG. 2 all the teeth l3-ll6 are shown fully engaged and the door is very firmly held (main latching position in which door lock can be set). It is to be noted that, since a surface 23 or the plate 2 extends slightly into the channel defined by strips 19 and 20 thereby allowing a limited amount of play, there will not be any excess rubbing or friction under normal conditions.

In FIGS. 43 through 7 details of the lock-operating mechanism are shown. A helical torsion spring 25 mounted on a pin 26 engages the ends of the pins 9 and It) which are secured to the free ends of the pawls. 5 through 6 and urges the latter apart.

These pins 9 and 10 further carry small sleeves or cam followers 27 and 28 engaged in turn by ramps or camming surfaces 29 and 30 of a sliding plate 31 formed with slots 32 and 33 receiving pins 34 and 35 fixed in the plate ll. Thus, this plate 31 can slide in the direction of arrow C when a lever 36, pivoted on the upper pin 3 1i passing through an arcuate opening 34a in the lever 36. A spring 37 urges this lever into the illustrated position while its lower end 36a engages a bent-up tab 3% on the slider 31 to move the latter to the right as described above. The lower end of the lever is further formed between the pins 9 and 10 with a nose 39 having a bent-under tab 40 engageable at times by the sleeve 27 on the pin 9.

At its upper end the lever 36 is formed with a hook 41 engageable by an end 42 of an outside door handle 43 passing through a door panel 44 and housed in a cover 45. A key cylinder 46 has the customary eccentric pin 47 that engages in a slot 48 (see particularly FIG. 7) of the hook 41.

A lever 51 is received between a bend 49 in the lever 36 and a pin 50 on this lever. This lever 51 is pivoted at 52 and provided with a dead center spring 53. It is further formed with a slot 58 and rests on a pin 54 fixed in the plate 1. Also pivoted on this pin 54 is a hook 55 which is provided with two pins 56 and 57, the pin 56 engaging in the slot 58 while a nose 55a engages the back of the slider 31. Thus pivoting of the hook 55 about its axis 54 causes the slider 31 to move forward and the pins 9 and 10 to move toward each other.

As best shown in FIG. 7 a lever 60, with a torsion spring 61 urging it into the illustrated position, engages this pin 57 on the hook 55 and is actuatable via a rod 62 by an inside door handle 63.

The door is opened by pulling on he handle 43 (or pushing it into its housing) which tilts the lever 36 and causes the pawls and 6 to approach each other as shown by dot-dash lines in FIG. 6; alternatively the handle 63 is pivoted in direction of arrow D thereby pivoting the hook 55 which engages the slider 31 and earns the two pins 9 and toward one another.

In order to close the car or truck door, one need only push it into its frame relative to the door post, the spring will bias the pawls 5 and 6 outwardly against the channel strips 19 and 20 to hold it securely.

To lock it from the outside, the barrel of the key cylinder 46 is rotated by means of a key thereby causing the eccentric 47 (see FIG. 7) to move up to the dot-dash position. With the lever 36 in this up position, which it can assume because of the arcuate shape of its pivot opening 34a, it can no longer contact the tumed-up tab 38 of the slide 31 with its lower end 36a to slide this to the right, in the direction of arrow C, to move the pins 9 and 10 together and thereby disengage the pawls 5 and 6 from the strips 19 and 20.

At the same time, an actuation of the handle 63 in the direction of the arrow D of FIG. 7 will pull this lever 36 back down by the pin 50, thereby unlocking the door, while at the same time moving the slider 31 in the direction of the arrow C by means of the rotatable hook 55.

To lock the door from the inside, one need merely pivot the handle 63 in the direction of the arrow E of FIG. 7. This moves the lever 51 up, due to the pin 56 in the hook 55, thereby lifthandle 43, the pawls 5 and 6 will be forced toward each other with the pins 9 and 10 also moving toward each other. The upper pin 9 will engage the tab 40 of the lever 36 and move this lever 36 down into its unlocked position. This makes it difficult to inadvertently lock oneself out ofone's vehicle.

11', however, the door is closed with the lever 36 in its up, locking position and at the same time the handle 43 is actuated to pivot the lever 36 about its pivot 34, the pin 9 and its sleeve 27 will not contact the tab 40 and the lever 36 will remain up, with the door remaining locked.

lclaim:

1. A two-position latch for two relatively slidable bodies,

the respective channel side; I means on said other body pivotally mounting said pawl for movement of said teeth into and out of said notches;

spring means urging said pawl into engagement with said notches wherein one notch is engaged by one tooth of each pawl in a first position of the bodies and both notches of each side are engaged by the respective teeth in another position of said bodies;

means for pivotally shifting said pawls out of said notches said notches being formed as sawtooth indentations each having one relatively shallow flank and one relatively steep flank, the steep flank facing the respective pivot axis.

2. The latch defined in claim 1 wherein said notches are so constructed as to provide a limited amount of play along said pivot axes between said channel and said pawls.

3. The latch defined in claim 1 wherein said means pivotally mounting said pawls includes two pivot shafts coaxial with said pivot axes, two pins extending substantially parallel to said axes and mounted on the free ends of said pawls, and spring means urging said pins apart.

4. The latch defined in claim 3 wherein said means for pivotally shifting said pawls includes a shiftable body formed with two oblique camming surfaces engageable with said pins to cam same toward each other, and means for shifting said body against said pins.

5. The latch defined in claim 4, further comprising locking means for inhibiting shifting of said body.

6. The latch defined in claim 3 wherein said shafts are so juxtaposed that, on deformation thereof under stress, said pawls bear inwardly on each other. 

1. A two-position latch for two relatively slidable bodies, said latch comprising: means on one of said bodies forming a channel having opposite sides each formed with at least two inwardly directed notches; a pair of pawls on the other of said bodies pivotal in substantially the same plane about respective pivot axes perpendicular to said plane and receivable between said sides of said channel, each of said pawl having a pair of teeth complementarily engageable in the respective notches of the respective channel side; means on said other body pivotally mounting said pawl for movement of said teeth into and out of said notches; spring means urging said pawl into engagement with said notches wherein one notch is engaged by one tooth of each pawl in a first position of the bodies and both notches of each side are engaged by the respective teeth in another position of said bodies; means for pivotally shifting said pawls out of said notches said notches being formed as sawtooth indentations each having one relatively shallow flank and one relatively steep flank, the steep flank facing the respective pivot axis.
 2. The latch defined in claim 1 wherein said notches are so constructed as to provide a limited amount of play along said pivot axes between said channel and said pawls.
 3. The latch defined in claim 1 wherein said means pivotally mounting said pawls includes two pivot shafts coaxial with said pivot axes, two pins extending substantially parallel to said axes and mounted on the free ends of said pawls, and spring means urging said pins apart.
 4. The latch defined in claim 3 wherein said means for pivotally shifting said pawls includes a shiftable body formed with two oblique camming surfaces engageable with said pins to cam same toward each other, and means for shifting said body against said pins.
 5. The latch defined in claim 4, further comprising locking means for inhibiting shifting of said body.
 6. The latch defined in claim 3 wherein said shafts are so juxtaposed that, on deformation thereof under stress, said pawls bear inwardly on each other. 